FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PROBATION - PAGE 5

The SouthtownStar reports: Charles Flowers, the former suburban Cook County regional schools superintendent, pleaded guilty last week to one count of felony theft of public funds. He was sentenced to 18 months on probation and repaid the $16,000 that he stole from the office. Among other things, Flowers bloated his payroll by hiring friends and relatives, took out hefty cash advances on an office credit card, dined at swanky restaurants at taxpayers' expense and bought plane tickets to Mississippi for his children.

The North Aurora man convicted of stealing Walter Payton memorabilia from the star Bears running back's namesake restaurant won't be welcome there for the next two years. Jeremy J. Sherman, 19, pleaded guilty to theft Friday in Kane County Court for stealing Payton's NFL Hall of Fame ring and a replica of his Super Bowl XX ring from Walter Payton's Roundhouse Restaurant in Aurora in March 2006. Sherman was sentenced to 2 years of probation, fined $100 and credited for 237 days he served in the County Jail.

The Sports Xchange IndyCar driver Rahal placed on 6-race probation IndyCar officials have placed driver Graham Rahal on probation for the next six races for blocking and initiating avoidable contact during the April 15 race in Long Beach, Calif. Rahal made contact with the car driven by Marco Andretti in Turn 8 of lap 22. That sent Andretti's car into a tire barrier, but Andretti was not injured. "Due to the inability of the No. 38 car to continue the race, a review of the on-track actions of Graham Rahal became a postrace issue," said Beaux Barfield, IndyCar president of competition and race director, according to IndyCar.com.

LOS ANGELES, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan faced the prospect of being sent back to jail after a judge in Los Angeles revoked her probation on Wednesday in the light of new charges over a June traffic accident. Lohan, 26, who was not present at the hearing, is on probation for a 2011 jewelry theft. The "Mean Girls" actress has been in and out of rehab and jail since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession. Lohan will be arraigned on Jan. 15 on charges of reckless driving and lying to police when she claimed she was not behind the wheel of a car that smashed into a truck in June in the California beach city of Santa Monica.

A monk accused of trying to lure girls into his car pled guilty today to child abduction, officials said. Thomas Chmura, a Benedictine monk who lived at an a abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., was given two years probation and must register as a sex offender and receive counseling as part of the plea, according to the Lake County State's Attorney's office. Chmura was arrested last April after authorities said he pulled up alongside a 14-year-old girl who was on foot in Antioch , told her she was beautiful and asked her to let him drive her home.

Jerramy Stevens, the former Seattle Seahawks tight end and new husband of soccer star Hope Solo, was arrested Wednesday in Florida on a probation violation. Stevens reportedly had traveled to Florida after he married Solo on the same day he was arrested in Kirkland, Wash., as part of an alleged domestic violence incident on Nov. 13. He was not charged, but the arrest was a violation of his Florida probation while he was out of state. According to information from the Hillsborough (Fla.)

Attorneys for convicted Springfield power broker William Cellini signaled Monday that they will seek probation at sentencing for his federal conviction. Cellini had been scheduled to be sentenced Monday, but his attorneys won a delay until Oct. 4 because of his health. Cellini suffered a heart attack last month and was unable to travel to Chicago for the sentencing, according to his lawyer, Dan Webb. In recent court papers, federal prosecutors said Cellini, 77, faces up to about eight years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but conceded he might deserve less because of his age and health.

A former Oak Park parking enforcement officer was sentenced to two years' probation Monday for pocketing cash payments he arranged with people whose vehicles had been booted. In January, Cook County Judge Thomas Tucker found Keith Kotero, 39, of Maywood, guilty of official misconduct and six counts of theft. During Kotero's trial, motorists testified that he told them they could pay less than they owed if they paid in cash. The motorists said that they thought the payments were legitimate and that they received official-looking receipts with a village stamp.